Saturday, June 2, 2018
Maximum security

Acts 12:4
So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

We spent the last day of the Prison Fellowship Caribbean Forum at a high-security prison up Guyana’s mighty Essequibo river. It was an arduous three-hour journey, especially for those who were afraid of the rough water when we were in the mouth of the river. It took a long bus ride, making a mile plus crossing of one river and then the high-speed sail for an hour up the next.

I met a guy at that prison who told me that he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 70 years. When I asked how many years he had left he said 13. When I found out how many he has served already I realised that the numbers didn’t add up. I pressed him, and he said that his head cannot even comprehend how he could serve 70 years in prison.

There are so many others there, men who have been put away for a long time in high security, cut off from normal life, and the freedoms we enjoy every day. It’s tough to see men this way confined. Conversations with them are mostly normal but you are reminded of the abnormality when you leave and remember that they can’t.

Society is compelled to put away any person who, by their proven criminal actions, are likely to be a danger to the rest of society if allowed to walk freely among us. It is chilling to look into the eyes of murderers as they tell of how they did it. Sometimes telling stories that the courts would never hear.

In some parts of the world, the prison system is far different from ours here in Guyana. The conditions are far superior, some so superior that the cells look almost like hotel rooms that could very well earn a start or two. Nevertheless, the inmates are confined.

The greater the crime, and the greater the potential risk posed, the greater the security under which the inmate is kept. The idea being that higher risk inmates require higher lever security since it is assumed that they are the ones who would be very keen on making good their escape. Another group, those in for the long term, are also deemed to be in need of higher levels of security since, given the prospect of no meaningful life outside later, better to escape now.

I am always amazed by those inmates who are allowed to walk freely in my neighbourhood. The come out to work and the number of inmates far outstrip the officers with them but no one makes an effort to escape. The logic is that if you sentence is short, or if your long sentence is almost at an end, running away would be a stupid thing to do since if/when caught the security would be higher, the chances of outside work nil, and the new sentence longer.

The prisoners who get to come out are those who, although they are still inmates, have a sense of freedom. Once you are set free in your spirit there is no security system that could hold you down against your will, none. The may have your body behind bars but that is as far as they could go.

In our story today, Peter was being held in maximum security, “that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.” Acts 12:6. Herod was murdering the disciples and terrorising the church. With Peter held pending a trial it would have appeared that Peter was next candidate for the executioner.

The terrorised church prayed, partly putting their faith in God for Peter, and, maybe, partly because there was nothing else they could do. I make the last statement because when Peter later showed up at the door and the housekeep announced his presence, “they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”” Acts 12:15. And when they finally saw him, “they were astonished”.

That Peter got out was a miracle! A miracle indeed. An angel appeared in Peter’s cell and walked him out of the chains, leaving the guards sleeping and then as he walked up to the gates they opened like modern automatic gate with sensors. God had set him free from maximum security.

Peter was set free physically, but not every prison miracle brings physical freedom. All, however, result in spiritual freedom. We who work in the prison ministry see this all the time.

Sometimes, as in the case of the apostle Paul, the prisoner wants to leave on his own terms. Paul and Silas were arrested at Philippi. That night they held church in the prison and the doors of the prison were all opened, but Paul and Silas never ran away. The terrified prison officer became a Christian and so did his household.

Later that day the prison officer “reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.” Acts 16:6,37.

Some in maximum security are free, but some walking around with us freely, and in maximum security

Think on these things:

1. Have you ever been arrested on incarcerated?
2. Do you know have any relative or close friend who spent time in prison, if so have you talked with them about the experience?
3. How could your church do more to bring spiritual freedom to those who are in physical prison?

Prayer focus:

Let us pray today that we would maintain our freedom in Christ and work for others to be free.

In His Grace
Pastor Alex